Vegetable powders are produced using a variety of known methods and are used as a base for many food products. While existing vegetable powders are used to create many different food products, most of them have an off odor and taste, chalky feel, and low protein content due to the method used to make the powder.
Soymilk, for example, has great potential, but has yet to catch on in the west. Soymilk is lactose and cholesterol free, nutritious, and healthful. It has traditionally been a staple of the Chinese diet. In the United States, soymilk has not been well received. Soymilk is traditionally made by soaking soybeans, grinding them with water, cooking the slurry, filtering the slurry to remove the sludge, and then heating the extract. This process results in a beverage that has an off-flavor and odor which many cultures simply do not accept.
To make soymilk more appealing to consumers, its processing and deflavoring has been a topic of research in the United States for decades. Many researchers have been left frustrated trying to sufficiently reduce the off-flavor and odor and chalkiness of conventional soymilk. Several researchers have attempted to develop a powdered soy beverage adaptable to the tastes of diverse cultures, but many of these resulted in a soymilk with a low protein content and a bland, chalky taste. For example, bad flavor can be reduced by boiling soybeans, and this is exploited in the “Illinois” method. However, boiled beans still yield a product with bad mouth feel, chalkiness, and/or low protein content.
There remains a need for a vegetable powder that has or can make products with commercially acceptable flavor, mouth feel, and/or protein content.